Systems and methods for monitoring database replication

ABSTRACT

Data processing systems and methods are provided that include a relational database and an application program that performs a data processing step on data belonging to a pre-defined entity stored in the relational database. The relational database and the application program may be linked by an interface that provides an intermediate layer for extracting a self-contained temporary table out of the relational database that contains the data belonging to a user selected entity. The disclosed systems and methods may be used for various data processing purposes, including monitoring database replication.

This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority fromprior patent application EP 04013924.8, filed Jun. 15, 2004, the entirecontents of which are expressly incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND

I. Technical Field

The present invention generally relates to the field of data processing.More particularly, embodiments of the invention relate to systems andmethods for monitoring database replication.

II. Background Information

The design of a relational database is typically based on a data model.A data model is a conceptual representation of the data structures thatare required by a database. The data structures include the databasetables, the relationships between data tables, and the rules that governoperations on the database tables. There are two major methodologiesused to create a data model: the entity-relationship approach and theobject model.

A relationship is an association between two or more database tables.Relationships are expressed by the data values of the primary andforeign keys of a database table. A primary key is a column or columnsin a database table whose values uniquely identify each row in a table.A foreign key is a column or columns whose values are the same as theprimary key of another table. The relationship is made between tworelational database tables by matching the values of the foreign key ofone database table with the values of the primary key in another. Keysare fundamental to the concept of relational databases because theyenable tables in the database to be related with each other.

Traditionally, database tables are organized in the following way. Foreach entity, a set of tables stores information about the entity. Theseentities are to a large extent independent and typically there aremaintenance transactions for each. For example, there can be entitieslike ‘office’ and ‘employee’. ‘Employee’ would include several tablescontaining information such as, for example, address, employee ID,salary, job description, and manager. The entity ‘office’ would alsocomprise several tables containing information such as, for example,address, number of seats, building number, etc. ‘Employee’ could alsocontain a list of offices but ‘offices’ and ‘employee’ would normally bemaintained separately.

The entity model is the basis for a large variety of tools andprocesses, such as view cluster maintenance, central master datamanagement, and XML data interchange. With the advent of object orientedprogramming, the database table design centers more around objectsrather than self-contained entities.

In the above example, the address that appears both in the ‘employee’and the ‘office’ entity is modeled as a separate object. However, thisdoes not constitute a traditional entity as it is not self-contained.The address is modeled in the database as a separate object used both by‘employee’ and ‘office’. However, from the point of view of anapplication program and the user interface, the address data needs to beprovided as if it were an integrated part of the ‘employee’ or ‘office’entities.

Due to this discrepancy between the logical view of the entities and theactual incorporation of the objects, the database tables designed tofollow the new object oriented model cannot be used together with alarge variety of tools developed for the traditional entity based model.For example, it is not possible to compile a set of tables for XMLdistribution of ‘employees’ as the tables used to store the addressesbelong only partly to the ‘employees’ and, furthermore, do not have thetable layout expected for tables belonging to ‘employees’. There istherefore a need to bridge the gap between the traditional entity baseddata processing approach and the object oriented database layout that isadapted to the object oriented programming model.

In addition, it is often desirable to store copies of relationaldatabase tables at multiple sites in a distributed data processingsystem. Data replication is the process of maintaining multiple copiesof a database table in a distributed data processing system. Performanceimprovements can be achieved when data replication is employed, sincemultiple access locations exist for the access and modification of thereplicated data. For example, if multiple copies of a data object aremaintained, an application can access the logically “closest” copy ofthe data object to improve access times and minimize network traffic.Furthermore, data replication provides greater fault tolerance in theevent of a server failure, since the multiple copies of the data objecteffectively become online backup copies if a failure occurs.

In general, there are two types of propagation methodologies for datareplication, which are referred to as “synchronous” and “asynchronous”replication. Synchronous replication is the propagation of changes toall replicas of a data object within the same transaction as theoriginal change to a copy of that data object. For example, if a changeis made to a table at a first replication site by a transaction A, thatchange must be replicated to the corresponding tables at all otherreplication sites before the completion and commitment of transaction A.Thus, synchronous replication can be considered real-time datareplication. In contrast, asynchronous replication can be considered“store-and-forward” data replication, in which changes made to a copy ofa data object can be propagated to other replicas of that data object ata later time. The change to the replicas of the modified data objectdoes not have to be performed within the same transaction as theoriginal calling transaction.

Synchronous replication typically results in more overhead thanasynchronous replication. For example, more time is required to performsynchronous replication since a transaction cannot complete until allreplication sites have finished performing the requested changes to thereplicated data object. Moreover, a replication system that usesreal-time propagation of replication data is highly dependent uponsystem and network availability, and mechanisms must be in place toensure this availability. Thus, asynchronous replication is moregenerally favored for non-critical data replication activities.Synchronous replication is normally employed only when applicationrequires that replicated sites remains continuously synchronized.

One approach to data replication involves the exact duplication ofdatabase schemas and data objects across all participating nodes in thereplication environment. If this approach is used in a relationaldatabase system, each participating site in the replication environmenthas the same schema organization for the replicated database tables anddatabase objects that it maintains. If a change is made to one replicaof a database table, that same change is propagated to all correspondingdatabase tables to maintain the consistency of the replicated data.Since the same schema organization used the replicated data across allreplication sites, the instructions used to implement the changes at allsites can be identical.

Generally, two types of change instructions have been employed in datareplication systems. One approach involves the propagation of changeddata values to each replication site. Under this approach, the new valuefor particular data objects are propagated to the remote replicationsites. The corresponding data objects at the remote sites are thereafterreplaced with the new values. A second approach is to use proceduralreplication. Under this approach, a database query language statement,such as a database statement in the Structured Query Language (“SQL”),is propagated instead of actual data values. The database statement isexecuted at the remote sites to replicate the changes to the data at theremote replication sites. Since all replication sites typically have thesame schema organization and data objects, the same database statementcan be used at both the original and remote sites to replicate anychanges to the data.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,615,223 shows a method for data replication thatincludes procedures for adding, deleting and modifying replicated data,and for replicating conflict resolution.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,058,401 shows a method for data replication withconflict detection. The method aims to reduce overhead in datareplication in a distributed system capable of detecting conflicts inreplicated data.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,806,074 shows a method for configurable conflictresolution in a computer implemented distributed database. The methoduses a conflict detection module for detecting a conflictingmodification for corresponding portions of replicated data structures.

It is a common disadvantage of known replication solutions that they arenot error free. Another problem regarding data consistency in adistributed data processing system is that conflicting changes to thedata can be made at different sites. There is therefore a need formethods and systems for monitoring database replication for detectingsuch data inconsistencies.

SUMMARY

Consistent with an embodiment of the present invention, a dataprocessing system is provided. The data processing system includes arelational database having a plurality of database tables. The databasetables have a number of relationships and contain data belonging to aset of predefined entities. Each entity of the set of predefinedentities has a predefined name. An application program processes thedata belonging to a selected one of the predefined entities. Aninterface provides data belonging to the selected one of the predefinedentities to the application program as a temporary table stored involatile memory. The interface comprises a mapping table for assigningat least one of the plurality of database tables to one of thepredefined entity names. The interface also comprises means forproviding a list of the predefined entity names to the applicationprogram for the selection of the one of the predefined entities. Theinterface further comprises means for generating the temporary tablecontaining the data belonging to the selected one of the predefinedentities by reading the at least one of the plurality of database tablesthat is assigned to the entity name of the selected one of thepredefined entities and the database tables that are related to the atleast one of the plurality of the database tables.

In another embodiment consistent with the present invention, adistributed database system is provided that comprises at least a firstreplica and a second replica of data belonging to a set of predefinedentities. The at least first and second replicas have a plurality ofdatabase tables. The database tables have a number of relationships.Each entity of the predefined set of entities has a predefined name. Anapplication program monitors database replication with respect to databelonging to a selected one of the predefined entities. A firstinterface provides first data belonging to a selected one of thepredefined entities to the application program as a first temporarytable stored in volatile memory. A second interface provides second databelonging to the selected one of the predefined entities to theapplication program as a second temporary table stored in volatilememory. The application program detects a discrepancy between the firstand second temporary tables and outputs a signal when a discrepancy isdetected.

In another embodiment consistent with the present invention, a dataprocessing method provides data belonging to a selected one of a set ofpredefined entities to an application program. The data is stored in arelational database having a plurality of database tables. The databasetables have a number of relationships and the database tables containthe data belonging to the set of pre-defined entities. Each entity ofthe predefined set of entities has a predefined name. The methodcomprises providing a list of the predefined names to an applicationprogram for a user's selection of one of the predefined names. Theuser's selection is received. A mapping table is used that assigns atleast one of the plurality of database tables to one of the predefinedentity names to access the at least one of the plurality of databasetables that is assigned to the selected one of the predefined entities.The at least one of the plurality of database tables is read that arerelated to the at least one of the plurality of database tables. Atemporary table is generated containing the data belonging to theselected one of the predefined entities that has been obtained byreading the at least one of the plurality of database tables and itsrelated tables. The temporary table is stored in volatile memory.

It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description andthe following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory onlyand are not restrictive of the invention, as claimed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute apart of this disclosure, illustrate various embodiments and aspects ofthe present invention. In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a data processing systemconsistent with the present invention;

FIG. 2 illustrates a flow diagram of an embodiment of a methodconsistent with the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of another embodiment of a data processingsystem having a replication component;

FIG. 4 is a flow chart of an embodiment of a method related to theoperation of the data processing system of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is an example of database tables and their relationships; and

FIG. 6 is an example of a temporary table in which technical keys havebeen eliminated.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following detailed description refers to the accompanying drawings.Wherever possible, the same reference numbers are used in the drawingsand the following description to refer to the same or similar parts.While several exemplary embodiments and features of the invention aredescribed herein, modifications, adaptations and other implementationsare possible, without departing from the spirit and scope of theinvention. For example, substitutions, additions or modifications may bemade to the components illustrated in the drawings, and the exemplarymethods described herein may be modified by substituting, reordering oradding steps to the disclosed methods. Accordingly, the followingdetailed description does not limit the invention. Instead, the properscope of the invention is defined by the appended claims.

Embodiments of the present invention relate to data processing systemsand corresponding methods. In one embodiment, a relational database isprovided with a plurality of database tables. The database tables have anumber of relationships and contain data belonging to a set ofpre-defined entities. Each entity of the pre-defined set of entities hasa pre-defined name. Furthermore, an application program may be providedfor processing data belonging to a selected one of the pre-definedentities. An interface acts as an immediate layer between the relationaldatabase and the application program for providing the data to theapplication program. The interface generates a temporary table thatcontains the data and stores the temporary table in volatile memory foraccess by the application program.

As disclosed herein, the interface may include a mapping table thatassigns at least one of the plurality of database tables to one of thepredefined entity names. In response to a request of the applicationprogram, the interface provides a list of the predefined entity names tothe application program for selection of one of the predefined entities.In response to the selection of one of the predefined entities, thetemporary table is generated by reading the at least one of theplurality of database tables assigned to the selected one of thepredefined entity names in the mapping table and its related databasetables, if any.

The resultant temporary table may contain all the data belonging to theselected entity without technical database keys that are not of interestto the requesting application program. This is particularly beneficialif the application program uses the entity oriented approach as thetemporary table delivered by the interface is self-contained. This meansthat technical keys are eliminated from the temporary table and that allrelationships between the database tables that contain the data of theselected entity have been resolved.

In accordance with an embodiment of the invention, the mapping tableassigns a main table to one of the entity names. The main table is theroot of one or more relationship paths that are resolved when thetemporary table is generated. As an alternative, or in addition, themapping table can explicitly assign a list of related database tables toone of the entity names.

In accordance with another embodiment of the invention, the temporarytable is generated as a spreadsheet. For example, the spreadsheet has atab for each of the database tables that has been used for thegeneration of the spreadsheet.

Embodiments of the present invention may also generate a self-containedtemporary table containing all the data belonging to a logical entitythat is stored in various database tables, which facilitates usage ofapplication programs that require such an entity view on the data.

In another embodiment, the present invention relates to a distributeddatabase system is provided that includes at least first and secondreplica of the data that belongs to a set of predefined entities. Eachone of the replicas uses an interface to provide a respective temporarytable containing data belonging to a selected one of the predefinedentities. The data contained in the temporary tables is compared inorder to detect any discrepancies.

In accordance with another embodiment of the invention, a replicationprocedure is invoked when a discrepancy is detected. For example, thedetected discrepancy is signaled to a user for the user's review. Theuser can enter a correction in order to resolve the discrepancy. Thecorrection is entered into the replication component for propagation ofthe correction to the replicas.

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of a data processing system 100 that hasrelational database 102. Relational database 102 has a plurality ofdatabase tables, such as main table A, main table B, and table 1, table2, etc. Relationships between the database tables are defined usingprimary and foreign keys.

In one embodiment consistent with the present invention, each main tableconstitutes the root node for one or more relationship paths to otherdatabase tables. For example, a relationship between main table A andtable 1 is defined. Table 1 has a further relationship with anotherdatabase table. As a consequence, a relationship path is defined fromthe main table A that includes one or more other database tables. Maintable A can be the origin of a number of such relationship paths. Thesame applies analogously to the other main tables of the relationaldatabase 102. As further shown in FIG. 1, data processing system 100 mayinclude an interface 104 in order to establish an intermediate layerbetween relational database 102 and an application program 106 that isexecuted by processor 108.

In accordance with an aspect of the invention, the data model that formsthe basis for relational database 102 may be an object oriented modelsuch that the data stored in the database tables is not grouped intoself-contained entity tables but spread across various database tablesthat are linked by relationships. On the other hand, application program106 requires a self-contained tabular input that contains all the datarelated to a selected entity. In order to perform the respectivetransformation, interface 104 includes entity mapping table 110.

All entities used in data processing system 100 may have predefinedentity names. These entity names are listed in the left column of entitymapping table 110. Entity mapping table 110 assigns at least onedatabase table to each entity name. This assignment enables theinterface 104 to collect all the data stored in relational database 102that belongs to a given entity.

For example, entity mapping table 110 explicitly lists all databasetables for a given entity name that contain data belonging to thatentity. Alternatively, or in addition, the entity mapping table 110assigns a main table to the entity name. The relationships from the maintable to other database tables along the defined relationship paths areresolved by reading the respective data and generating a temporary tablecontaining all the data belonging to the entity.

In the example of FIG. 1, entity mapping table 110 assigns main table Ato entity name I and entity mapping table B to entity name II, etc.Interface 104 includes a processor 112 for execution of a computerprogram 114. Program 114 can receive a request from the applicationprogram 106. In response to the request program 114 reads the list ofentity names from entity mapping table 110 and provides the list to theapplication program 106. One of the entity names is selected and sent asa consecutive request 126 to the program 114. In response, the program114 reads the one or more database tables assigned to the selectedentity from entity mapping table 110 and reads the database tablesbelonging to that selected entity from the relational database 102. Thedata belonging to the selected entity that is read from relationaldatabase 102 is put into a temporary table 116 and stored in randomaccess memory 118 of interface 104. By way of example, temporary table116 can have the form of a spreadsheet having multiple tabs or it can besplit into a number of separate tables.

In operation, application program 106 sends request 120 to interface104. In response, program 114 reads the list of predefined entity namesfrom entity mapping table 110. This list 122 is sent to applicationprogram 106. Application program 106 may display the list 122 ongraphical user interface (GUI) 124 for a user's selection of one of theentity names. The user selected entity name is transmitted with arequest 126 to interface 104.

In response, program 114 reads the technical key of the main table thatis assigned to the selected entity name from entity mapping table 110.Program 114 reads the data contained in this main table and any tablesthat are related in order to generate temporary table 116 that onlycontains the data belonging to the selected entity name without anytechnical keys or foreign keys, thus having resolved all relationshipsbetween the involved database tables.

For example, if the user has selected entity I program 114 reads thetechnical key of main table A from entity mapping table 110 that isassigned to entity name I. Program 114 reads main table A fromrelational database 102 and all database tables that are related to maintable A along the defined relationship paths. The user data contained inthese database tables without any technical or foreign keys is stored intemporary table 116 which thus constitutes a self-contained tableincluding all data belonging to the selected entity. This temporarytable 116 is accessed by application program 106 in order to perform adata processing operation on the selected entity.

FIG. 2 shows a flowchart illustrating an embodiment of a method relatedto the operation of the data processing system 100 of FIG. 1. In step200, the application program sends its request to the interface. In step202, the application program receives the list of entity names from theinterface in response to the request. In step 204, the user selects oneof the entity names from the list and the application program sends acorresponding request containing the selected entity name to theinterface in step 206.

In response to the request sent by the application program in step 206,the program of the interface looks up the main table that is assigned tothe selected entity name from the entity mapping table (step 208). Instep 210, the program reads the main table and, in step 212, referencesfrom the main table to other database tables are resolved. This may beperformed by reading all database tables along the relationship pathsthat originate from the main table.

On this basis, the temporary table that contains only the user data butnot the technical and foreign database keys is generated and output instep 214. The temporary table is stored in step 216 and accessed by theapplication program in step 218 in order to perform a data processingoperation on the data of the selected entity.

FIG. 3 shows a block diagram of another embodiment of a distributed dataprocessing system 300. Elements in the embodiment of FIG. 3 thatcorrespond to elements of the embodiment of FIG. 1 are designated bylike reference numerals having added 200. The relational databases 302and 302′ are database replicas that are linked by a replicationcomponent 328. Replication component 328 can implement any knownreplication methodology.

Application program 306 is coupled to the relational databases 302 and302′ by interfaces 304 and 304′, respectively. It is to be noted thatrelational databases 302 and 302′ do not necessarily need to have thesame database reference structure or the same technical keys but stillcontain substantially the same user data belonging to the pre-definedset of entities. Interfaces 304 and 304′ are similar in design andcorrespond to interface 104 in the embodiment of FIG. 1. As thetechnical keys used in relational database 302′ do not need to beidentical to the keys used in relational database 303, entity mappingtable 310′ may differ from entity mapping table 310 as differenttechnical keys are assigned to the entity names.

In operation, application program 306 sends requests 320 and 320′ tointerface 304 and 304′, respectively. In response, application program306 receives list 322 of the predefined entity names from interface 304and a respective list 322′ from interface 304′. Application program 306determines the cut set of the lists 322 and 322′, i.e., those entitynames that are contained in both lists. The cut set of entity names isdisplayed on graphical user interface 324 for a user's selection of oneof the entity names.

The user selected entity name is transmitted with request 326 tointerface 304 and with request 326′ to interface 304′. In response,temporary tables 316 and 316′ are generated and provided to theapplication program 306 that compares the temporary tables 316 and 316′.If a discrepancy or conflict between the two temporary tables 316 and316′ is detected, this is signaled from application program 306 to theuser by means of the graphical user interface 324.

The user can review the detected discrepancy and enter a correction. Thecorrection is entered into replication component 328 by applicationprogram 306. The replication component 328 propagates the correction tothe replicas i.e. relational databases 302 and 302′.

FIG. 4 shows a flow chart illustrating an embodiment of a method relatedto the operation of the data processing system 300 of FIG. 3. Steps inthe flow chart of FIG. 4 that correspond to steps in the flow chart ofFIG. 2 are designated by like reference numerals having added 200.

In step 400, the application program sends its request to the interfacesof the database replicas. In response it receives the respective listsof pre-defined entity names from the database replicas in steps 402,402′, etc.

In step 403, the application program determines the cut set of the listsof entity names that it has received from the interfaces of the databasereplicas. In step 404, a user selects one of the entity names from thecut set and the application program sends a request carrying theselected entity name to the interfaces in step 406. Next, steps 408 to418 are performed by the interface 304 and steps 408′ to 418′ areperformed by the interface 304′, etc. The resultant temporary tables arecompared in step 420 for detection of any discrepancies. After entry ofa correction of a detected discrepancy, a replication procedure isinvoked in step 422 to propagate the correction to the replicas.

FIG. 5 shows an example of a number of database tables that may bestored in a relational database, e.g. in the relational database 102 inthe embodiment of FIG. 1 or in the relational database 302 of theembodiment of FIG. 3. The relational database stores a number ofdatabase tables for the entity type ‘employees’. For example, eachdatabase table of the entity type ‘employees’ has a column containingemployee names and a column for storing an address ID for each of theemployee names. The address ID is a technical key that relates an entryin the database table for ‘employees’ to an entry in a database table ofthe entity type ‘address’. Likewise, entries in the database tables ofentity type ‘client’ that are stored in the relational database refer toentries in the database tables of entity type ‘address’ using theaddress ID as a technical key.

The arrows shown in FIG. 5 illustrate the foreign key relationships. Thethin lines and thin arrows symbolize the foreign key relationships ofdatabase tables having the same entity type whereas the thick lines andarrows symbolize the foreign key relationships between entity types.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example of a temporary table where technical keyshave been resolved such that the resulting database table contains allthe information of interest of the employees, but without technical keysand references that are of no interest for the following data processingto be performed by an application program. In the example of FIG. 6, theaddress ID has been resolved such that the resultant database tablecontains an explicit indication of the street rather than an address ID.

The foregoing description has been presented for purposes ofillustration. It is not exhaustive and does not limit the invention tothe precise forms or embodiments disclosed. Modifications andadaptations of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in theart from consideration of the specification and practice of thedisclosed embodiments of the invention. For example, the describedimplementations include software, but systems and methods consistentwith the present invention may be implemented as a combination ofhardware and software or in hardware alone. Examples of hardware includecomputing or processing systems, including personal computers, servers,laptops, mainframes, micro-processors and the like. Additionally,although aspects of the invention are described for being stored inmemory, one skilled in the art will appreciate that these aspects canalso be stored on other types of computer-readable media, such assecondary storage devices, for example, hard disks, floppy disks, orCD-ROM, the Internet or other propagation medium, or other forms of RAMor ROM.

Computer programs based on the written description and methods of thisinvention are within the skill of an experienced developer. The variousprograms or program modules can be created using any of the techniquesknown to one skilled in the art or can be designed in connection withexisting software. For example, program sections or program modules canbe designed in or by means of Java, C++, HTML, XML, or HTML withincluded Java applets or in SAP R/3 or ABAP. One or more of suchsoftware sections or modules can be integrated into a computer system orexisting e-mail or browser software.

Moreover, while illustrative embodiments of the invention have beendescribed herein, the scope of the invention includes any and allembodiments having equivalent elements, modifications, omissions,combinations (e.g., of aspects across various embodiments), adaptationsand/or alterations as would be appreciated by those in the art based onthe present disclosure. The limitations in the claims are to beinterpreted broadly based on the language employed in the claims and notlimited to examples described in the present specification or during theprosecution of the application, which examples are to be construed asnon-exclusive. Further, the steps of the disclosed methods may bemodified in any manner, including by reordering steps and/or insertingor deleting steps, without departing from the principles of theinvention. It is intended, therefore, that the specification andexamples be considered as exemplary only, with a true scope and spiritof the invention being indicated by the following claims and their fullscope of equivalents.

1. A data processing system, comprising: a relational databasecomprising a plurality of database tables, the database tables includinga number of relationships and containing data belonging to a set ofpredefined entities, wherein each entity of the set of predefinedentities has a predefined name; an application program for processingthe data belonging to a selected one of the predefined entities; and aninterface for providing the data belonging to the selected one of thepredefined entities to the application program as a temporary tablestored in volatile memory, the interface comprising: a mapping table forassigning at least one of the plurality of database tables to one of thepredefined entity names; means for providing a list of the predefinedentity names to the application program for the selection of the one ofthe predefined entities; and means for generating the temporary tablecontaining the data belonging to the selected one of the predefinedentities by reading the at least one of the plurality of database tablesthat is assigned to the entity name of the selected one of thepredefined entities and the database tables that are related to the atleast one of the plurality of the database tables.
 2. The dataprocessing system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of database tablescomprise main tables, and at least one of the main tables is assigned toone of the predefined entity names in the mapping table.
 3. The dataprocessing system of claim 2, wherein the means for generating thetemporary table is adapted to resolve all relationships of the maintable.
 4. The data processing system of claim 1, wherein a set of theplurality of database tables are assigned to one of the predefinedentity names and the mapping table.
 5. The data processing system ofclaim 1, wherein the means for generating the temporary table is adaptedto generate the temporary table as a spreadsheet.
 6. The data processingsystem of claim 5, wherein the spreadsheet has a tab for each databasetable of the plurality of database tables that contains data belongingto the selected one of the predefined entities.
 7. A distributeddatabase system, comprising: at least a first replica and a secondreplica of data belonging to a set of predefined entities, the at leastfirst and second replicas including a plurality of database tables, thedatabase tables including a number of relationships, and wherein eachentity of the predefined set of entities has a predefined name; anapplication program for monitoring database replication with respect todata belonging to a selected one of the predefined entities; a firstinterface for providing first data belonging to a selected one of thepredefined entities to the application program as a first temporarytable stored in volatile memory; and a second interface for providingsecond data belonging to the selected one of the predefined entities tothe application program as a second temporary table stored in volatilememory, wherein the application program detects a discrepancy betweenthe first and second temporary tables and outputs a signal when adiscrepancy is detected.
 8. The distributed database system of claim 7,further comprising: means for entering a correction of the discrepancyin response to the signal; and a replication component that is invokedin response to entering the correction and that propagates thecorrection to the at least first and second replicas.
 9. The distributeddatabase system of claim 7, further comprising: means for determining acut set of a first set of predefined names of a respective first set ofentities supported by the first interface and a second set of predefinednames of a respective second set of entities supported by the secondinterface for a user's selection of one of the names contained in thecut set.
 10. A data processing method for providing data belonging to aselected one of a set of predefined entities to an application program,the data being stored in a relational database comprising a plurality ofdatabase tables, the database tables comprising a number ofrelationships and the database tables containing the data belonging tothe set of pre-defined entities, and each entity of the predefined setof entities has a predefined name, the method comprising: providing alist of the predefined names to an application program for a user'sselection of one of the predefined names; receiving the user'sselection; using a mapping table that assigns at least one of theplurality of database tables to one of the predefined entity names toaccess the at least one of the plurality of database tables that isassigned to the selected one of the predefined entities; reading the atleast one of the plurality of database tables that are related to the atleast one of the plurality of database tables; generating a temporarytable containing the data belonging to the selected one of thepredefined entities that has been obtained by reading the at least oneof the plurality of database tables and its related tables; and storingthe temporary table in volatile memory.
 11. The data processing methodof claim 10, wherein the relationships between the tables areestablished by foreign keys.
 12. The data processing method of claim 10,wherein the mapping table assigns a set of the plurality of databasetables to one of the predefined entity names.
 13. The data processingmethod of claims 10, wherein the mapping table assigns at least one maintable of the plurality of database tables to at least one of thepredefined entity names.
 14. A computer program product stored on adigital storage medium, the computer program product comprising asequence of computer executable instructions for performing a method,the method comprising: providing a list of predefined names to anapplication program for a user's selection of one of the predefinednames; receiving the user's selection; using a mapping table thatassigns at least one of a plurality of database tables to one of thepredefined entity names to access the at least one of the plurality ofdatabase tables that is assigned to the selected one of the predefinedentities; reading the at least one of the plurality of database tablesthat are related to the at least one of the plurality of databasetables; generating a temporary table containing the data belonging tothe selected one of the predefined entities that has been obtained byreading the at least one of the plurality of database tables and itsrelated tables; and storing the temporary table in volatile memory. 15.A method for monitoring database replication of at least first andsecond replica of a distributed database system, the at least first andsecond replica containing data belonging to a set of predefinedentities, at least a first replica and a second replica of databelonging to a set of predefined entities, the at least first and secondreplicas having a plurality of database tables, the database tableshaving a number of relationships, each entity of the predefined set ofentities having a predefined name, the method comprising: monitoringdatabase replication with respect to data belonging to a selected one ofthe predefined entities; providing first data belonging to a selectedone of the predefined entities to the application program as a firsttemporary table stored in volatile memory; providing second databelonging to the selected one of the predefined entities to theapplication program as a second temporary table stored in volatilememory; and searching a discrepancy between the first and secondtemporary tables and outputting a signal if such a discrepancy isdetected.
 16. The method of monitoring database replication of claim 15,further comprising: entering a correction of the discrepancy in responseto the signal, and invoking a replication component in response to theentry of the correction for propagation of the correction to the atleast first and second replicas.